AN: You know me, love me some cliffhangers! Thank you for the reviews, I hope nobody panicked too much. Mostly. Enjoy!
Paramedics rushed into the warehouse after the eternity it felt like it took them to get there. Henriksen quickly directed them from the front door to where Dean was lying unconscious on Castiel, still bleeding profusely. Cas didn't want to let go of Dean but he had to let them take him.
He followed the stretcher carrying Dean blindly out the door and towards the waiting ambulance. Cas was all set to get in and go with Dean to the hospital, had every intention of staying by Dean's side until he knew he was okay, but was stopped.
Mills put a hand on his shoulder. Cas tensed up. Did she really want to mess with him right now?
"Castiel, you have to come with us," she said, low so only he could hear it, "you can't blow your cover."
"I don't care, I'm going with Dean," Cas said in a low, dangerous voice. Just as dangerous was what he was willing to do in that moment to make sure he was with Dean, holding his hand.
"No, you're not," Henriksen stepped beside Cas. "You heard her, you can't…"
"Screw you! I don't care!" Cas yelled, not caring about his damn cover. Dean, his Dean, was in an ambulance, had been shot and these two were telling him he couldn't go with him?
He made a feeble attempt to run to the ambulance before it drove away. Henriksen grabbed him around the middle and Mills put both hands on his shoulders to push him back. Henriksen handcuffed him and half-dragged him to the squad car. He kept fighting them both until the ambulance doors closed and it started to drive away. He let out a breath and all of the fight left in him went with it.
That's when Cas began to cry. Cried for Dean, for himself, the shitty situation he had gotten himself into and the general suck that had been his life. The suck that had existed until he had met Dean. And now he might be taken away from him, too.
Cas had been oblivious to anything besides Dean until that point and he now looked around through blurry, tearful eyes as he was loaded into the squad car. Crowley and Dick had been grabbed as well as a couple of guys from Michael's gang, Uriel and the blonde one with his usual black V-neck, or at least that's what Cas remembered him in from last time.
Crowley had an initial look of disbelief but then attempted to look expressionless. Hopefully, Mills was right and Crowley would continue to believe Castiel wasn't working with the police. It was generally impossible to tell what Crowley was thinking or scheming.
The ride, while short, was excruciating. They needed to hurry so Castiel could run to Dean at the hospital. Considering his lack of a car, that would probably be literal. The entire car ride for Cas was full of almost every memory he had of Dean. He tried to block them out and to just focus on what was happening now or to just stare out of the window but they surfaced anyways. The first time he met him, their fight in the diner, their first kiss on the Impala, their dates…
Cas never told him he loved him, told him why he loved him. How he was with Sam, the soft side under his bad boy exterior, his passion for cars, the way he looked at Cas…
What if you never get to? whispered the sinister part of Cas's brain. He squinted his eyes shut, hard, and tried to block that thought out as tears continued to stream down his face.
They got to the station and Castiel sat down in the interrogation room. It was cold and bare, which wasn't helping Cas's mood but nothing really would have at that point except to see Dean, healthy and smiling. He quickly wiped the tears from his face and tried to pull himself together to get out of there as soon as possible.
"We're sorry about what happened…"Henriksen started to say.
"No, you're not," Cas said, glaring at him. "I'm surprised you showed at all."
"I get you're mad…" Mills tried but Cas cut her off, too.
"You think?" he snapped, lashing out. He almost felt bad seeing the hurt cross her face because he never had a problem with her and still didn't, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "How'd you know we were there, anyways?"
"GPS on your phone," Henriksen answered like that was obvious. If Cas had been thinking clearly, it would have been. He also wasn't thinking clearly enough to find that invasion of privacy disturbing.
"We didn't get a chance to see the supplier. Did you get a name?" Mills asked, treading gently.
"Yes," Cas sighed, "Lucifer."
"Was that his real name or a street name?" Henriksen asked, almost smirking, which pissed Cas off.
"How the fuck would I know? Everyone started shooting before I could ask him," Cas retorted, shocking himself. Sure, he'd been upset and short with these two before but he never would have talked like that to a cop quite like that before meeting Dean. He looked down at his still handcuffed hands in his lap.
"Can I go now?" Cas asked quietly. He needed to get to Dean and he needed to go before he said something he's regret because he was upset.
Mills unlocked the handcuffs and let him go.
Outside the precinct, Cas smelled cigarette smoke and immediately thought of Dean. He turned to his left but, of course, he was disappointed. Instead of Dean, he saw the black V-neck wearing gang member from Michael's crew smoking and froze, anticipating a fight.
"Whoa, easy," the blond said, dramatically throwing his hands in the air, "I'm just glad to be out of there," he gestured with his head towards the station, "I don't want any trouble."
"Same," Cas agreed. He paused, looking left and right to try and pick which way was quickest to the hospital.
"What are you looking for, your guys aren't coming, right?" the guy asked, puffing his smoke. Cas shook his head. They weren't exactly Cas's guys anyway but this man didn't need to know that.
"Thinking of how to get to the hospital, not that it's any of your concern," Cas said.
"I was about to head over myself. One of your guys hit at the warehouse?" he asked, stomping out his cigarette. Cas nodded. "Need a lift?"
Cas figured it was a bad idea, a trap maybe, but that was the fastest way to Dean so he didn't care.
"Sure. Thanks," Cas said, feeling the tension in his face, shoulders and everywhere melt just a little.
"Balthazar," the man said, extending a hand. Cas rethought what he was about to do for a split second before deciding a course of action.
"Cas," Cas said, shaking it.